🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1113@ceylon.gte.com>, rs05@gte.com (Russ Sasnett) writes:
> the pix, but most people don't have a clue about the 
> direction of the delay when it's under 1/2 second. i know
> i didn't; i always had a tough time syncing up wild tracks 
> where there was no slate. back and forth, back and forth 
> i'd go ...

We recently performned an informal test to see if people were
able to correctly align audio and video. The tested started with audio
500 msecs ahead of video, or 500 msecs behind. The sequence
contained only a (continuously) talking head. The audio delay
could be changed to get the sound synchronous. Hardly anyone
was able to get it correct within 100 msec, and most scored
between 100 and 200 msec, in either direction.

As several people have noted, tests have shown that audio behind
video is slightly better than having it the other way around.
Such a test could be to have people watch a video with distorted
sound, and see have much they can understand of what is said, while
varying the delay between adio and video. It will be no surprise
that synchronous audio and video turns out to be best.

These tests also show something else: although people may not be 
able to actively synchronise sound and video very well, they do 
give a higher quality rating to material that is synchronous, 
and so they are aware of misalignment.

Rob Koenen